ATLANTA -- Only once every decade or two is it cold enough in Atlanta to see the ducks at Piedmont Park coming in for a landing on the lake, and skating instead of paddling.

Severe cold, deadly cold -- Authorities believe it is the cold that may have killed at least two people across Metro Atlanta. Including a man of the streets, a 70 year old man of the streets named Charlie Perkins, found outside early Tuesday morning behind a laundromat in Fulton County.

Charlie Perkins had no home, but he had friends like Larry, who tried to watch out for him.

Yet all day and into the night, the City of Atlanta sent vans around town urging the homeless to come inside for the night, offering them shelter. Grady Hospital believes that outreach is a major reason that the ER received only three people with cold weather related health issues Monday night and Tuesday.

But Mr. Charles, as Larry called him, chose to stay at home -- his home outside.

"Churches, everybody came around saying, y'all want to go in, you need blankets, this and that. And we'll still choose to stay out here, you know," Larry said.

Within a day, the cold will be less brutal.

The ice rink at Centennial Olympic Park -- ironically closed because it was too cold for skaters -- will reopen. The ducks at the park will be paddling, not skating. And humans no longer will be in danger just being outside.